Biography

Hip-hop producer, J-Sw!ft, was born Juan (John) Manuel Martinez in Madrid, Spain to Dolores and Pedro Martinez on December 27, 1971. His Afro-Cuban father was a Salsa musician, songwriter, and performer who taught J-Sw!ft music theory at a young age. In 1974, the family headed to Los Angeles, California, settling in Inglewood. At age six, J was enrolled in the Mazar Piano Conservatory, quickly proving to be a prodigy.

By the age of 14, J caught the attention of R&B record producer Reggie Andrews, best known for his work on The Dazz Band's 1982 Funk Hit, "Let It Whip". Andrews, who was also a school teacher at Locke High School, provided J with a recording studio making beats and writing songs at South Central Unit (SCU), an after-school program for disadvantaged young talent. This gave J the opportunity to submit songs to A&M Record's Rondor Music Publishing, while additional work came via BMI's Cheryl Dickerson. J-Sw!ift's official songwriting/producing debut came in 1991 working with Epic Record Artist, Keisha Jackson, daughter of the legendary comedian Millie Jackson, and her song "Feel You Out". That collaboration led him to work with Ricki Bell and Ronnie DeVoe of New Edition (Bell Biv Devoe).

In 1992, J-Sw!ft landed a record deal with Delicious Vinyl as a producer/songwriter to go on and produce an album for his hip-hop group, The Pharcyde. The album, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde was released in November of 1992. The hit single from that album, "Passing Me By" propelled the album to gold status selling (500,000 units). Kanye West recently stated, "The album Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde is his favorite album of all time".

J-Sw!ft has worked with a number of different recording artists since being a producer on Delicious Vinyl which include Prince, The Outlawz, Massive Attack, Mos Def, to name a few.

His music is featured internationally on various television shows, movies and networks including, America's Next Top model, E True Hollywood Story, E Investigates, Dukes of Hazard, King of the Hill, Barbara Walters Presents...., Busted, Date My Mom. Playboy, Pimp My Ride, Pride and Glory, HBO, Cinemax, Punk'd, True Life, VH-1's 40 Most Shocking Divorces, and The Wolves of Wall Street.

In addition, J-Sw!ft is currently in the recording studio finishing his soon to be released debut solo album, The Adventures of Negro Kneivel. The first single from this album, High When I'm Sober is available on ITunes. The music off the new solo album is inspired by the ROCKumentary film, 1 More Hit, which chronicles J-Sw!ft's fall from grace as a successful young producer to homeless and drug-addicted in Hollywood to ultimately his redemption. The film is available On AT&T U-Verse on Demand and Verizon Fios. There are plans for a world- wide tour to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the album, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde along with the CD release of The Adventures of Negro Kneivel kicking off this Summer 2012. Stay Tuned!
- IMDb mini biography by: Leslie Yvonne / Monica Busby